Determining the refractive index and the dielectric constant of PPDT2FBT thin film using spectroscopic ellipsometry

Abstract Despite the recent increase in PPDT2FBT polymer thin film applications for optoelectronic devices, a comprehensive study of this material's optical dispersion properties is unavailable. The optical properties of the PPDT2FBT thin film is investigated using variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) at ambient conditions. Knowledge of optical dispersion properties is essential for designing and fabricating optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, photodetectors, and photodiodes. In this research, we determined the dielectric function of PPDT2FBT thin film using the B-spline model and then reproduced the dielectric function using Psemi-Tri oscillators. We estimated the refractive index (n) of the thin film to be between 2.00 and 2.15 and the extinction coefficient (k) to be in the range of 1.14–1.39 at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. We further verified the estimated optical properties from the model using directly measured quantities such as transmission and absorption data obtained using the ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrometer and thicknesses obtained using a surface profilometer. In addition, we determined the optical band gap of PPDT2FBT using the absorption coefficient.